About Me

I'm proud to be a working mom, with two terrific kids (ages 8 and 11). I got my Ph.D. in applied psychology back in 2000. We moved to upstate NY from Philadelphia in 2006, and I'm now working as a researcher at SUNY Upstate Medical University. I'm a knee-jerk liberal, though I grew up in very red-state Arizona. I'm passionate about movies and politics. Sadly, I've now spent over a DECADE eating gluten-free, so I'm always on the lookout for great gluten-free foods.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Second Class Citizen

Spectacular 5 minute video of many people contributing to the reading of this amazing poem:

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE

I want to know what it's like...
To be normal. To be accepted. To be human. To be equal. To be free.

I want to know what it's like...
To be open. To be heard. To be loved. To be happy. To be me.

I want to know what it's like...
To feel like I belong.
To feel like I am strong.
That who I am isn't wrong.

I want to know what it's like...
To know that I am here.
That Iʼll make it through the year.
To know I wonʼt disappear.

I want to know what it's like...
To not have to fight.
To see an end in sight.
To make what is wrong right.

I want to know what it's like...
To be able to believe.
In a higher power that doesn't see.
Me as sin or sodomy.

I want to know what it's like...
To have liberty & justice for all
To break down this dividing wall
To remove homophobia from the law

I want to know what itʼs like...
To have a feeling that isn't sad.
To have something that I've never had.
To have a child call me dad.

I want to know what it's like...
To not feel like Iʼm a freak
To not feel like I am weak
To not be silenced when I speak

I want to know what it's like...
To live beyond a closet door.
To see my father once more.
To show him I'm not who I was before.

I want to know what itʼs like...
To donate the blood from my vein
But because Iʼm gay I must refrain.
Why does my sexuality pertain?!

I want to know what itʼs like...
To not BE expelled from school
To not be made to look like a fool.
How is homosexuality breaking a rule?!

I want to know what it's like...
To undo what's been done to me.
To give sight to those who cannot see.
That I am no lesser of a human being.

I want to know what itʼs like...
To not be considered a disease.
To not have a majority I have to please.
To freely express my individualiTY.

I want to know what itʼs like...
To live in a land truly of the free.
Not a land that excludes me.
This is not how itʼs supposed to be!

I want to know what itʼs like...
To not be the target of bigotry
To not have you question my sanity
To not succumb to your superiority!

I want to know what it's like...
To overcome all of my fears.
To uncry these countless tears.
That have been shed over the years.

I want to know what it's like...
To learn about gay leaders of the past.
In my high school history class.
Can somebody please tell me what is so wrong with that?!

I want to know what it's like...
To have pride.
To not have to hide.
To not have to lie my whole life.
To not have my sexuality be denied.

I want to know what it's like...
To not have to feel this hurt inside.
To not think these thoughts in my mind.
To not contemplate suicide.

I want to know what it's like...
To have this pain in me subside.
To heal this wound that bleeds inside.
To get back the tears that I've cried.
To take back the years that Iʼve tried.
To bring back the life that has died.
To unite this world's divide.
To make change with stride.
To not stand below, but beside.

I want to know what it's like...
To have this choice you say is mine.
To have science & religion intertwine.
To have love be redefined.

I want to know what it's like...
To have a government that won't instate
Unfair laws that provoke hate
For fear society will disintegrate

I want to know what itʼs like....
To live in a world without hate.
A world that does not discriminate.
A world in which I can feel safe.
Whether I am gay bi or straight.
This is the world we must create!!!
These are the actions we must take.
These are the decisions we must make.
The time is now we cannot, we must not, we will not wait.

I want to know what itʼs like...
To have equal opportunity.
To know the feeling of full equality.
To be one collective humanity.

I want to know what it's like...
To be treated equally by my peers.
To stand alongside every queer...
On the edge of a new frontier.

A frontier that no one will dictate.
A frontier where there will be no debate.
A frontier in which everyone can relate.
A frontier made up of love and not hate.

I want to know what it's like...
To open your eyes so you can see.
The way this world is supposed to be.
We arenʼt so different, you & me.